Desperation is a Tender Trap
by AthenaScarlet
Summary: After Henry is attacked on his watch, Hook realizes he needs to figure out how to break Zelena's curse on his lips. But if he doesn't want to involve Emma - at least not yet - there's only one person he can trust who has the power to help him: Regina. [Heavy on the Captain Swan angst]


It had already been a bad day for Hook - and it was about to get worse.

_Bloody hell!_ he thought as he stood on the front step of the mayor's mansion. This is not where he wanted to be, but he was desperate after what transpired today so he had to accept the uncomfortable realization that the person who could help him was Regina.

Hook pressed the doorbell and heard it ring inside as lights began to go on in the house. He knew he probably woke her up considering the late hour, but she was his only option at this point and, frankly, he knew she would have a direct interest in his current situation.

Regina opened the door slowly and, realizing it was him, wordlessly ushered him inside and quickly shut the door. He noticed she was in clothing similar to the plaid outfit Emma wore when she answered the door for him in New York. And while there weren't many lights on, he could still see a figure on the stairs above them.

"Robin?" Hook asked the figure with the crossbow at his side.

The man nodded his head and lowered his weapon that had been aimed squarely at the pirate's chest. "Hook."

An awkward silence fell in the hall as the three of them tried to assess the situation. Hook was wondering why the woodsman was in Regina's house at this hour and then quickly realized that Robin was probably thinking the same thing about him. As if this wasn't uncomfortable enough, Hook's wandering mind was starting to make it disgustingly worse.

"Well," Regina said, breaking the tension among them. "Is there is a reason you're here at this hour, Hook?"

"Um, there is," he replied, his eyes breaking away from Robin to return to the mayor. "I was wondering if I could talk to you. Privately."

His eyes moved from Regina back to Robin. The outlaw gave him a simple nod before walking up the stairs to take a position on the landing in case someone else decided to knock at this ungodly hour.

Regina motioned for him to follow her and led them into her living room off the main entrance, pulling two pocket doors closed to give them more privacy. "Sorry about the security, but I'm sure you understand after today," she said. "Have a seat."

Hook stared at her without moving. "Tell me how we met."

"What?" she asked skeptically.

"How did we meet?"

She looked at him before taking a seat on her white sofa. "You broke into a dungeon in my castle to get information from Belle."

Hook gave her a simple nod in agreement before taking a spot on the couch across from her.

"Why the interrogation, captain? Especially considering I should be the one asking the questions after what happened while my son was in your care today."

"I'm getting to that," Hook snarled.

Regina looked like she wanted to come back with a quick retort but instead held her tongue, silently urging him to continue.

"The other day when Ariel was in town, it was actually Zelena pretending to be her."

Regina bowed her head as if she was both impressed and disgusted by the news. "A doppelganger spell. I'm assuming that's what your question was for?"

"Aye."

"She's more powerful than I thought," Regina said. "So how exactly did you find this out?"

Hook leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee. "I did see Ariel during the past year - the real Ariel - which is a story for another day. Zelena somehow knew about my encounter and used it to her advantage to get close to me here in Storybrooke."

Now it was Regina leaning forward. "How close?"

Hook took a deep breath. "She cursed me."

"How exactly?"

What he was about to tell her to still so raw to him. It would expose his heart, his desires, his emotions. It would reveal why he was so desperate for help that he was in Regina's home in the middle of the night. "She cursed my kiss," he said with a sneer. "As if a lovesick pirate isn't pathetic enough already."

He looked up at Regina, expecting to see a teasing smile or a glare mocking his current misfortune. Instead, she was looking at him with sympathy as if she understood just how much he cared for Emma and how deep this curse affected him. It was frankly a bit disconcerting to see her looking at him like this.

"And this curse … is that why you and Henry were attacked today?"

"Aye." Hook's thoughts went back to the docks he was standing on that morning with Henry and Smee when those insane creatures swooped down on them. He fortunately got Henry to safety - barely - but Smee didn't fare so well. "Regina, I gave my word to Emma that nothing will happen to the lad when he's in my charge. I protected him today and I will continue to stick by that promise."

"And yet my son was almost taken by those flying creatures! Is that what you call protecting him?" she asked pointedly.

"The alternative isn't much better, lass."

Regina's face changed from anger to stoicism. "What exactly were the witch's terms for this curse?"

"If I don't kiss Emma, the witch is going to go after everyone she holds dear, including her family and friends and … Henry."

The mayor leaned back on her couch, giving him a look that he knew meant she wasn't satisfied with his response. "So why can't you just kiss her?"

The pirate took a deep breath and his eyes pulled away to stare at his hook. "If I do that, she'll lose her powers."

A silence fell in the room between them. Hook thought telling someone what had happened - even if it was Regina - would lift at least some of the burden off his shoulders. He had hoped someone as powerful as she was would be able to quickly tell him that she could fix this stupid thing. Instead, Regina continued say nothing.

Perhaps Hook really deserved this after everything he had done in his past. He scoffed quietly and looked up at the not-so-evil queen. "Do you remember what you said to me on our way to Neverland?" he asked. "Villains don't get happy endings."

"I remember."

"No matter how much you and I have tried to change, perhaps that will always be our fate."

Regina looked back towards the doors that led to her foyer and the archer trying to protect her. "I refuse to believe that," she said quietly.

"Regina ..."

"I refuse!" she said sternly as her head whipped back, her eyes piercing him. "By fighting this witch, I'm on the side of the good guys right now, and I'm there with Snow White, Prince Charming, Robin Hood and a lovesick Captain Hook. Now how does that make you feel?"

Hook nervously scratched behind his ear. "I don't know frankly."

"I don't know either," Regina answered. "It doesn't seem right and it doesn't seem wrong. But that witch needs to go down."

If Regina believed that Zelena could be defeated, he could believe that this curse she placed on him could be broken. "So you can use your magic to help me?"

"No."

So much for wishful thinking. Hook exhaled sharply and slouched down on the sofa. "That's wonderful," he said sarcastically. "I know this is a curse I brought on myself, but I thought you would at least take some interest in it because of the boy."

"I'm only saying no because I don't know how to reverse it yet," she said. "The curse isn't just your curse, captain. We can't beat the witch if Emma doesn't have her powers and we can't beat her if she's distracting us by attacking everyone."

"And so I've created a problem for all of us."

Regina looked back at him sympathetically. "If it wasn't you, it was going to be someone else. She is good at preying on others' weaknesses. Ask Robin."

"Why would I do that?"

"He's been here since this morning when we found out about your run-in with Zelena's minions," she said. "He still feels guilty because I trusted him with my heart and he gave it to her."

"Why the bloody hell would he do that?" Hook yelled.

"I don't blame him," she said quietly. "Zelena had Gold threaten his son. Robin did the same thing I would've done if Henry was in danger."

Regina walked over to her bookshelf and pulled out Henry's old fairytale book. "Speaking of, the first thing we need to do is protect Henry, which is something I _can_ do," she said, opening the book to reveal a necklace with a small round charm on it tucked in an envelope under the inside cover. She waved her hand and sparks flew off the charm. "I didn't want him to have something like this because it would easily draw attention from a witch like Zelena but since she's already going after him, she'll just assume it's a gift from Emma."

She held it out towards Hook and he opened his right hand to grab it. The simple round medal shined against the callused skin of his palm. "What do you want me to do with this?"

"Have Emma give it to him as a gift. Zelena won't be able to break the protection spell, at least not immediately, so that should buy us some time."

Hook nodded and carefully placed it in a small pocket in his leather vest. "What do I tell Emma when I give it to her?"

"Tell her the truth. It will protect him from your curse until we can find a way to lift it." Regina gave him a quizzical look. "Wait. Have you told Emma about your curse?"

He should have just kept his mouth shut. He should've said nothing. But no, he had to ask about Emma and open up this issue as well because the curse itself wasn't complicated enough.

Regina came to sit beside him and put her hand on his knee. "You have to tell Emma."

"I can't," he replied, quickly brushing her hand away. "She can't know."

"Is that part of the witch's conditions?"

Hook stood up and walked towards the doors. "No, it's my condition. Emma …" He stopped, staring at the doors. Emma what? Emma can't know what horrible deeds put him in this position? Emma will look at him with disgust when she finds out why he was cursed? Emma couldn't bring herself to love him if she knew the truth about him? "Emma will never forgive me for this."

Regina got up and stood next to him. "For someone who believes he's a perceptive pirate, you really are quite clueless, aren't you?" He gave her an inquisitive glance wondering where she was going with this. "She'll easily forgive you because she's in love with you."

Hook scoffed at the notion. "Are you daft?" Regina just shrugged her shoulders. "She rebutes me whenever she can and scoffs at any advance I make towards her."

"Captain Hook is trying to romance the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. What did you expect?"

"She physically assaulted me after I tried a kiss to break _your_ spell in New York!"

Regina's eyes widened as she stared at the pirate. "You tried a true love's kiss on her?"

_Seriously, pirate, shut the hell up! _Hook took a step back and stared down at his feet. "I was hoping it would work so Henry could take the memory potion," he admitted.

"Hook?" she asked, prompting him to look up at her again. "You need to tell her that. And you need to tell her about the curse. It's the best way for you to protect Henry, Emma and everyone around us right now."

"And then what?"

She took a step closer to him. "I will find a way to break this curse on you."

Hook just laughed in her face. "Right."

"Hook, I don't care about the differences we've had in the past - at least not right now. And I don't care about your little crush on the savior. I don't even care about what you did that caused you to get played so easily by Zelena. I care about Henry and I know you do too. The longer this curse is on your lips, the longer Henry is in danger."

He swallowed and lowered his head again. "I'm sorry my actions put him in such danger."

"Zelena was the one who put him in danger," Regina explained. "And I want nothing more than to make her pay for what she's done."

Hook nodded and started walking towards the door again. "Let me know what you find out," he said quietly.

"I will," she replied. "And Hook? I meant what I said earlier. You and I, we have done some horrible things in the past, but I'm trying to be a better person - and I know you are too. We can have our happy endings."

The captain stood with a sad smile on his face. "I hope you're right," he said before pushing the door open with his hook.

Hook went through the foyer, giving a quick nod to Robin again before heading out the door of the house. As he walked towards the sidewalk, he stuffed his hand in his vest pocket to make sure Henry's medallion was still safely there. Then he quickly headed down the street towards Granny's bed and breakfast. It was too late to wake Emma, but he would do it anyway. He needed to make sure Henry would be protected and more important, he needed to explain all of this to Emma.

_"We can have our happy endings."_

He smiled at Regina's words and hoped that she would be right. When he finished telling Emma about the missing year and the curse and the danger they still have to face, he really hoped Regina would be right.


End file.
